Around 100 people showed up to a #WomenWillSpeak rally on Saturday, held by an organisation called the Women’s Action Group. According to their bio on YouTube, the Women’s Action Group was founded to oppose self ID by transgender people: “In 2019, a small group of women from regional and rural Victoria formed Women’s Action Group… The main focus of that founding year was to resist the changes proposed to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act that would allow ‘sex’ self ID in Victoria.” The rally attracted counter-protesters who showed up in support of trans rights, and the two groups clashed. At least two protesters were tackled to the ground by officers before pepper spray was deployed, according to Daily Mail Australia. In footage posted to X/Twitter, a man identified by the press as a “women’s rights” protester is seen violently assaulting two trans rights activists, before grabbing one by the throat and slamming them against the wall. The shaven-headed man wore sunglasses and appeared to be using a camera tripod as a weapon.
via pinknews: Clashes, anger and arrests in Melbourne as ‘neo-Nazis’ allegedly show up at gender-critical rally